


Product Testing in Potions Class

by BrandonStrayne



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Facebook: The Pen15 is Mightier, M/M, Pastries, Potions Accident, Potions Class (Harry Potter), Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:21:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27221131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrandonStrayne/pseuds/BrandonStrayne
Summary: Harry gets a sneak peek--or rather, taste--of the newest Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes product slated to hit the shelves. Or, he would have, if that annoying git Malfoy could keep his greedy paws to himself.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35
Collections: Pen15 is Mightier Prompt Exchange 2020





	Product Testing in Potions Class

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [Pen15isMightierPromptExchange2020](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Pen15isMightierPromptExchange2020) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Draco and Harry get hit with some sort of veritas spell/curse and try as they might to avoid it they both end up revealing their feeling for each other. I really like explicit stories, but if that’s not your thing Fluff is good. I would like it set post war, but they can be any age after that. Any professions and settings are fine by me. Include any other characters you wish. And a happy ending, please.

Harry was just about to put a spoonful of cereal into his mouth when an owl swooped down and suddenly he had a lap full of milk and soggy Honey Nut Cheeri Owls.

“Shit!” he shouted before he could think the better of it.

“Mr Potter! Language!” Professor McGonagall chastised from the head table as a chorus of giggles burst out around the room. Given that he was sitting halfway down the Gryffindor table, he must have been much louder than he thought.

“Sorry Professor!” he called as he brushed flaccid cereal flakes onto the floor.

“Don’t do that!” This time, the chastisement came from across the table, where Hermione was sitting. She had set her Daily Prophet aside and was giving Harry a disappointed look. “Don’t make the House Elves clean up after your mess.”

Pulling out her wand, she pointed it under the table and cast a series of vanishing charms.

“Be careful where you point that thing,” Ron smirked at Harry from his spot next to Hermione. “One slip of the wrist and Harry might lose his willy.”

Hermione pulled her head out from under the table for just long enough to shoot Ron an exasperated look. When Harry laughed, she swung the look to him and he returned it with one of his own. “What? It’s not my fault!”

“Really? Then whose soggy cereal is strewn across the floor right now?

“That’s not my fault!” protested Harry. Hermione rolled her eyes before she sighed and ducked back under, vanishing the rest of the mess that the unexpected package delivery had made. In all of the hullabaloo, he’d almost forgotten about the package that arrived. Looking around, he saw it laying on the floor behind the bench. Harry waited until Hermione had reappeared, his willy now safe from a misdirected Vanishing Spell, before he bent down behind him and picked up the slightly soggy box.

The box was wrapped in an iridescent purple wrapping paper that shimmered in a rainbow of colours as he moved the box in his hands, with a gauzy orange ribbon wrapped around it in both directions. Harry was pretty sure he knew who it was from, and his suspicions were confirmed when he flipped open the attached note to see the following in a large, loopy script:

> _Dear Harry,_
> 
> _We’ve been putting your very wise investment to excellent use and we already have a whole range of new products in development. As our most generous (and only) investor, we wanted you to have the first look at one of our favourite new offerings._
> 
> _We overheard a little Muggle-born girl shopping with her family in Diagon Alley and she and her young brother were playing a game called ‘Opposite Day’. And thus, the idea for Reversaroons was born. These tasty macaroon treats will make anyone who eats them say the opposite of what they feel. The effect should last for anywhere from 1-3 hours. Hitting the shelves of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes just in time for Christmas!_
> 
> _Sincerely, your ever-grateful beneficiaries,_
> 
> ~~_Gred and Forge_ ~~ _Fred and George_

“Who’s it from?” Ron asked through a mouthful of pastry.

“Ugh, didn’t your mother ever teach you not to speak with your mouth full?” Hermione said, drawing Ron a disgusted face. Her gaze followed a flaky piece of pastry as it fell free from its precarious balance on Ron’s lower lip and onto the front of his robe.

Sensing another one of Ron and Hermione’s bicker matches impending, Harry cut into the conversation before Ron could say something which would annoy Hermione even more. “It’s from your brothers. Looks like they’ve got a new product for sale soon.”

“Lemme see,” Ron mumbled. Harry tore off the wrapping, to reveal two fancy little pastry sandwiches sitting side by side in the small box. Before they could investigate them any further, though, Hermione stood up.

“We need to get going. We’re going to be late for Potions.”

Harry sighed. As much as he always disliked Potions class when Snape was their professor, somehow this year Slughorn’s class was worse. It had started out marvellously, with Harry becoming the dark horse that suddenly raced ahead to become the star pupil thanks to the help of the Half-Blood Prince’s old textbook. But that had quickly backfired on Harry when Slughorn had assigned him to be partnered with Malfoy, whose scholarly descent was in direct contradiction to Harry’s ascent.

And, somehow, Malfoy had become even more obnoxious than he used to be. Everything that Harry did seemed to be the new most annoying thing that Draco had ever been subjected to, and he was never reluctant to express his displeasure. Harry had tried to ignore Draco’s frequent outbursts, but Draco had an uncanny ability to use his words as weapons that he tossed in Harry’s direction. It felt like a death by a thousand cuts.

“I just need to run up to Gryffindor tower and change my robe,” Harry sighed.

Hermione shook her head. “We don’t have time for that. We’re starting Everlasting Elixirs today and it’s a very advanced potion. You don’t want to miss an important instruction and accidentally give yourself a nosebleed that will never stop, do you?”

Harry was pretty confident that, with the help of the Half-Blood Prince, he would be able to brew the potion with relative ease, but on the other hand, he definitely didn’t want a never-ending nosebleed. He stood up and looked down at the big wet spot on his robe. “Could you at least help me out with this?”

“At least if she misses with this spell, the worst you have to worry about is not having to wash your bits for a few days,” Ron joked.

“I won’t miss, Ronald,” Hermione shot back. Harry didn’t want to risk it, though, and he pulled the front of his robe away from his body. He could hear the forced breath that Hermione pushed out of her nose when she saw what Harry had done, but she didn’t say anything and just cleaned the mess off the front of the robe. When she was done, Harry pulled the robe up and sniffed it: it still smelled a bit like milk, but he didn’t think it would be noticeable unless someone happened to sniff his crotch.

Embarrassed at the thought, he dropped his robe and gathered together his books, setting the box of macaroons on top of them. “Thanks, Hermione.”

She just gave him a curt nod and turned to make her way down between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables towards the door. Harry and Ron exchanged a knowing look and hurried off after her.

They arrived just in time to drop their books onto their respective workbenches when Slughorn stepped into the classroom from his office and called the class to attention. Which was ideal for Harry because Draco was deprived of enough time to sling even a single insult in Harry’s direction.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, today we will be brewing an Everlasting Forgetfulness Potion. It is most important that you do not consume any of the final potions unless you’re willing to risk permanently forgetting your name or how to tie your shoelaces. When selecting your Valerian sprigs, it’s important that you pick one that has no decay; the quality of the sprig is essential to ensuring a quality brew.”

“Do you want to go grab the ingredients, or should I?” Harry asked as he thumbed through his worn copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_. Draco was making no move at all to prepare for their morning full of potion brewing and was lazily spinning a quill around in a circle inside the quill pot in front of him.

“What am I? Your house elf? I’m not your servant, Potter,” Draco mumbled. Harry turned to the git to say something cutting back, but he stopped when he took in Draco’s morose look. There was definitely something going on with him. His hair was still sleeked back, but it looked more greasy than held under control by hair products like it used to, and though he still picked a fight with Harry at every opportunity, he seemed dispirited, like it was more habit than will.

Harry decided to be the bigger man and just sighed before grabbing his textbook and heading over to the ingredients cabinet to wait in line for his turn. He was so busy studying the list of ingredients to make sure he didn’t forget anything that he didn’t notice what was happening over at his bench.

A few minutes later, he came back to their bench and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Malfoy take a bite of a delicate French pastry.

“Those are mine! I never said you could have those!” Harry hissed, grabbing the box and finding that both of the treats were now gone. He watched Malfoy nervously, trying to gauge the other wizard’s reaction when he realised that he had been inadvertently dosed.

Malfoy shrugged and continued chewing the last Reversaroon. Harry contemplated warning Malfoy about what had happened, but he was worried that people would think he’d done it on purpose. After all, it was widely known that he and Malfoy didn’t exactly get along. He was sure that more than one person in this school would happily lay down bets that Harry had done it on purpose just to get a break from Malfoy’s sharp tongue.

“How are you coming along, Mr Potter?” Slughorn asked as he sidled up to their table.

Harry looked down at the jumbled mess of ingredients that he’d dropped haphazardly on the bench. “Oh, um… we’re just getting started now.”

“Good good,” Slughorn cast an assessing look over at Malfoy, who was currently biting the corner of one of his nails and then pulling back to study his progress. “You’re quite lucky to have Mr Potter here as a partner, Mr Malfoy. He’s got a real aptitude for potion-making.”

“I’d rather be paired with an enraged pixie, Sir,” Malfoy drawled, looking bored. He went back to biting at his cuticle again.

Professor Slughorn’s chest puffed up and Harry interjected before Slughorn could fawn all over him again, “Sir, I think Seamus might need some guidance.”

Slughorn looked up to watch as Seamus poured directly from his bottle of Lethe River Water into his cauldron, not bothering to measure it. “No, no, Mr Finnigan. You must measure out two drops exactly!” Slughorn cried, rushing over to the other table and entirely distracted from Harry and Draco.

“Do you want to start crushing up the mistletoe berries and I’ll get started on part one of the brew?” Harry asked as he slid the mortar and pestle across the bench to Malfoy.

“If it will shut you up, I suppose. Your voice is like fingers down a chalkboard to me.” Draco stood up from his stool and jostled into Harry as he reached across to grab the small package of berries that Harry had collected.

“Yeah, well how about I do you a favour and stop talking and you can return the favour?” Harry muttered as he pointed his wand under their cauldron and started the fire.

“There’s nothing I would love more than to see you keep your mouth shut,” Draco said. Harry knew that Draco always had to get the last word in, so he just bit his tongue and focused on the potion. It wasn’t until he’d completed the first part of it and was at the stage where they had to let it simmer for an hour that Harry remembered the Reversaroons.

Going for subtle, Harry watched Draco covertly out of the corner of his eye for a few minutes. Draco was idly grinding the pestle into the mortar any time that Slughorn turned to survey the class and they were within eyeshot, but other than that, he was just staring out of the small window that was near the top of the wall at ground level, the only source of light into the dungeon Potions room.

“Just say it, Potter,” Draco sighed.

“What?” Harry asked, confused.

“I can see you side-eyeing me. Just say what’s on your mind.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry lied because of course, he had been doing just that.

“You don’t think I can feel you staring at me?” Draco accused, turning in his seat to face Harry, a small flare of the cocky, self-assured Malfoy colouring his expression. “Anytime you look at me it makes my skin crawl with disgust.”

“Is that—” Harry stopped mid-retort when something dawned on him. Malfoy was acting just as obnoxious and cruel as ever. Surely the effects of the macaroon must have taken effect by now… Harry needed to test to be sure. “I was just wondering what you thought of my new cologne. I just got it. I thought I would try a new scent.”

Draco’s eyebrows shot up in surprise for a moment before the scowl reclaimed its place on his face. “I think that you smell just as repellant as ever, Potter. Tell me, do you purposely make yourself smell this bad to scare off your many admirers?”

Harry didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. On the one hand, it didn’t look like he had detention in his future for drugging a fellow student, but he still had to suffer through the usual prickly Malfoy for the rest of the class.

“You know what, Malfoy, let’s just go back to not talking.”

“Fine by me. If I never speak a single word to you again, I’ll die the happiest man alive.”

  
  


~*~

  
  


“Ouch! Relax! I’ve got a treat for you right here!” George sucked on his finger, easing the pain from the nip that Harry’s large white owl had just given him. Flipping the lid open on the box on the bookstand by the window, he grabbed a couple of treats and put them in the palm of his hand, holding it out to the impatient owl and letting it retrieve them at its own pace.

It was only after the owl had devoured all of the treats that she held her leg up and let George retrieve the package that was fastened there. Wasting no time, as soon as George had relieved her of the package, Hedwig hopped around so that she was facing outside and leapt into flight.

“Nice to see you too!” George called after her before pulling shut the window. Carrying the wrapped parcel over to his desk just as a concerning cloud of black smoke came out of Fred’s cauldron from where he was working on his own desk, which faced George’s.

“Too many frog toes,” the twins said in unison, sharing a wide grin as Fred waved his hand in the air, dispelling the smoke.

“Who’s that from?” Fred asked as he pulled out his wand and vanished the potion he’d been experimenting on from the cauldron so he could start again.

“Looks like it’s from Harry,” George said, pulling open the letter and scrolling down to the bottom to see Harry’s familiar, messy scrawl.

“Wicked! What did he think of the Reversaroons?” Fred asked excitedly.

George held up one finger, holding off his brother as he scanned the contents of the letter. He frowned in confusion for a moment before his brow smoothed out and he laughed. “He says here that they didn’t work.”

“What?” Fred asked, potion momentarily forgotten. “I know for a FACT that they work. It took three weeks for the hex burn that Angelina gave me when I told her she looked fat to heal.”

“Yeah, says here that Malfoy swiped them when Harry’s back was turned and Malfoy was just as much of an obnoxious git as usual.”

A wide grin grew on Fred’s face as understanding dawned on him. “Looks like I owe you five sickles, eh?”

“I told you Malfoy had it bad for our man, Harry,” George gloated.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear prompter,
> 
> My apologies for this being general rated. The idea for the story came to me and the necessary content to warrant an explicit rating just didn't quite fit in there. I hope you still enjoy this even with the lack of smut.
> 
> My thanks to my glorious betas, [OllieMaye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/olliemaye), [Drarryismymuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hatchersn/pseuds/Drarryismymuse), and [Keep_Calm_and_Expecto_Patronum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/keep_calm_and_expecto_patronum) for their help, support, and cheerleading.


End file.
